Arrangement in mine hoist installations



Oct. 6, 1970 E. R. DANIELSSON 3,532,240

ARRANGEMENT IN MINE HOIST INSTALLATIONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed May 15, 1967 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Oct. 6, 1970 E. R. DANIELSSON 3,532,240

. ARRANGEMENT IN MINE HOIST INSTALLATIONS Original Filed May 15, 1967 5 SheetsSheet 2 Fig.3

, INVENTOR ATTURNE Y Oct. 6,

E. R. DANIELSSON ARRANGEMENT IN MINE HOIST INSTALLATIONS Original Filed May 15, 1967 Fig.4

5 She'ts-Sheet 5 I NVEN TOR ATTORNEY Oct. 6, 1970 E. R. DANIELSSON 3,532,240

ARRANGEMENT IN MINE HQIST INSTALLATIONS Original Filed May L5, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Fig.6

I NVEN TOR ATTURNE Y 6,1970 E. R. DANIELSSON A 3,

ARRANGEMENT IN MINE HOIST INSTALLATIONS Original Filed May 15. 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.7

ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,532,240 Patented Oct. 6, 1970 US. Cl. 214740 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A skip for a mine hoist installation has a door in the door opening of a pocket secured in a frame. The door is pivotally mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis and has linear edges abutting the pocket at the corresponding edges of the door opening when the door is closed. A lifting rod is coupled at one end to the door and a lifting component is mounted on the frame and coupled to the other end of the lifting rod for rotating the door about the axis. A locking arrangement including a bar at the lower portion of the lifting rod having a slot formed therein and a pin affixed to the door and engaged in the slot locks the door in closed position.

This application is a continuation of US. application 638,228, filed May 15, 1967, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to mine hoist intallations, and particularly to a skip or measuring pocket for use in such installations.

Ore and rock is usually hoisted up from mines or other forms of underground workings by means of a winding arrangement, which runs in a vertical shaft. Therefore, such features as the maximum load of the skip, the hoisting speed and the acceleration and retardation of the skip are, inter alia, determined by the size and design of the hoist machinery used, when lies outside the scope of the present invention.

However, filling of the skip at the filling stations within the depths of the mine and the emptying of said skip at the pit head can be made more effective, and the primary object of the present invention is to provide a skip and a measuring pocket which allows a more rapid filling and emptying of the skip than is possible in the case of prior art arrangements. Previously the filling of the skip has required the following steps: positioning a bridging chute between the measuring pocket and the skip, opening the emptying door of the measuring pocket, emptying the measuring pocket, closing the door of the measuring pocket and drawing-back the bridging chute. Correspondingly, emptying of the skip has consisted of positioning a bridging chute between a surface bunker and the skip, opening the door of the skip, emptying the skip, closing the skip door and withdrawing the bridging chute.

A more specific object of the present invention is therefor to provide a skip and a measuring pocket which obviates the necessity of projecting and withdrawing th bridging chutes when filling and emptying the skips, at the same time as provision is made for a more rapid opening and closing of the doors of the measuring pocket and skip. In this way the steps of filling and emptying the skip are also effected more rapidly.

The objects of the invention are fulfilled according to the present invention in that the skip and measuring pocket have been given the characteristics set forth in the claims.

The invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings which show an example of an embodiment of the invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a section through a mine, the shaft of which is provided with two filling stations and an emptying station,

FIG. 2 is a side view of a skip according to the invention,

FIG. 3 is a detail view of the skip according to FIG. 2 and shows a door and locking and operating means for the same,

FIG. 4 shows an arrangement for guiding the material being loaded into the skip.

FIG. 5 shows the attachment of wear-plates on the inside of the skip walls, and

FIGS. 6 and 7 show alternative embodiments of the locking and operating means for the skip door.

The mine shown in FIG. 1 includes a shaft 1 with two filling stations 2 and 3 situated at different levels in the mine. Located at each filling station is a measuring pocket 4 and 5 respectively, designed according to the invention. The construction of the measuring pockets will be described in more detail below. Running in the shaft 1 is a skip 6, operating between either of the filling stations 2 or 3 and an emptying station 7 in the head frame 8, at the top of the shaft 1. The contents of the skip are emptied at the emptying station into a surface bunker 9. The skip is guided in the shaft and at the stations by fixed guides or rope guides.

FIG. 2 shows a skip according to the invention, the construction of which skip will be described below. The skip is shown with two doors but the invention can be equally as well applied with only one door. Furthermore, the measuring pockets 4 and 5 located at the filling stations in the mine can be designed to advantage in the same manner as the skip according to FIG. 2, with the exception that they have only one door.

The skip shown in FIG. 2 has a frame 10 in which is arranged a skip pocket 11 for the material to be hoisted. The walls of the pocket 11 are substantially vertical and the pocket is open at the top. Situated at the bottom end of the pocket are two doors 12 and 13, of which the door 12 is shown closed and the door 13 open. Each door 12 and 13 is provided with a base plate 14 and 15', respectively, which is fiat and has straight edges, and which when closed lies against a door opening in the bottom of the pocket 11; the bottom of the door when closed inclining downwards and inwards towards the centre line of the pocket 11. The doors l2 and 13 are thus so arranged that their lower edges meet on the centre line of the pocket 11, so that no material remains in the pocket after one of the doors has been opened. The doors 12 and 13 are also provided with side walls 16 and 17 which are substantially vertical and lie outside the side walls of the pocket 11. The doors 12 and 13 are suspended from horizontal shafts 18 and 19 which pass through the upper ends of the side walls 16 and 17. By being suspended in this way the doors are acted upon by their own weight in a direction towards the closed position. Furthermore, the suspension arrangement and the design of the door gives the advantage that the door rovides for a larger opening, much more rapidly than the sector shaped doors commonly used. Moreover, the force required to open the door is low since the material in the pocket assists in opening the door.

Arranged under each door 12 and 13 is a chute 20 and 21, respectively, intended to lead. the material from the pocket as it is being emptied. To avoid using bridging chutes which must be moved in and out into the shaft, at the filling and emptying stations, whilst at the same time eliminating the time wasted performing these operations, the low ends 22 and 23 of the chutes 20 and 21 have been given the shape of a parabola.

In the case of filling stations which lie above the lowermost filling station in the shaft it is desired that the skip shall be capable of assing at full speed. However,

the use of the stationary, parabola-shaped chutes means that the measuring pocket must lie quite close to skip when filling the same. The measuring pockets are therefore positioned on wheels at the intermediate stations, so that they can be moved a certain distance towards and away from the shaft and the skip can pass at full speed.

Each door 12 and 13 is provided with at least one lifting rod for opening and closing said doors; the said rod being attached at one of the side walls of the door or at its front wall. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 each door is provided with two lifting rods 24 and 25, attached to each of the side walls 16 and 17, respectively, of the door. The lifting rods 24 and 25 are interconnected through the medium of yokes and coupled with fluidactuated piston-cylinder arrangements 26 and 27, respectively, which are so arranged that their piston rods are completely pushed into the cylinders when the doors 12 and 13 are closed. The risk of dirtying and wear of the piston rods and seals is therefore reduced.

Naturally, other means, such as lifting magnets or electric motors can be conceived for lifting and lowering the lifting rods 24 and 25, instead of the described pistoncylinder arrangement 26 and 27.

FIG. 3 shows the connection between the door 12 and the lifting rod 24. The connection between the door 13 and the lifting rod 25 is constructed in a corresponding manner and needs not be more specifically described. The lower portion of the lifting rod 24 is designed as a bar 28 provided with an axial slot 29 in which is engaged a pin 30 located on the side wall 16 of the door 12. The slot-pin-connection 29, 30 is of importance for the locking of the door 12 is closed position. When the door 12 is open the pin 30 is located at the lower end of the slot 29. When the door is closed and has reached closed position the lifting rod 24 and the bar 28 continue to move downwards until the pin 30 reaches the upper end of the slot 29. A forked portion 31 of the bar 28 is thereby caused to engage a stud 32 secured to a side wall of the pocket 11. The door 12 is thus locked in closed position but is released at the instant that the door is to be opened; since the lifting rod 24 and the bar 28 cease their upward movement when the pin 30 is located in the lower end of the slot 29 and the forked portion 31 has been released from the stud 32, before the door has begun to open.

The above described locking arrangements are most advantageous in comparison with other conceivable types of locking arrangements, for instance such arrangements as lifting magnets or a piston-cylinder device which lifts a stud out of a hole or a hook which engages a pin. These locking arrangements require an extra working ste to release the same before the door can begin to open resulting in longer time being used. In contradistinction to such locking means the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 is released simultaneously as the lifting begins, and no time is lost.

To prevent loads which are too high from being applied to the guide means, which guide the skip, the load in the skip should be distributed as evenly as possible around the centre line thereof. Distribution of the load can be conveniently effected by means of a depending plate 33, against which the load is deflected when filling the skip so as to be evenly distributed. The plate 33 is suitably hinged in the frame and a stop member 34 (FIG. 2) is arranged to limit the swinging movement of the plate 33. To enable adjustments to be made to the position of the plate as conditions require, the fixture 35 of the plate has been made displaceable along a beam in the frame. The stop member 34 has also been made adjustable for the same reason.

The plate 33 functions to guide material supplied to the skip when the skip is being filled. The material strikes the side of the plate 33 before it falls into the pocket 11. The plate 33 may be adjusted in position to guide the material so that it falls into the center and the area of the center of the pocket 11 and insures that said pocket is filled from the bottom up. Thus, most of the material falls on material already loaded in the pocket 11 so that the Wear and tear on the inside walls of the pocket is reduced considerably.

The pocket 11 is internally lined with Wearing plates 36 (FIG. 5). These are usually fixed to the Walls of the pocket by bolts. However, when changing the plates the bolts are usually so corroded that they must be cut loose which, since the wearing plates are changed relatively often, causes a great loss of time and subjects the pocket to possible damage. Also, as the bolt holes pass through the side walls of the pocket, these are also liable to corrode.

These disadvantages are circumvented by means of the invention in that the Wear plates 36 are suspended on the edges of the pocket walls; thus facilitating exchange of the plates and reducing corrosion to a great extent.

To reduce still further the time taken to fill the skip at the filling stations in the mine it is convenient to arrange one measuring pocket on each side of the shaft and to fill the skip simultaneously from both measuring pockets. Naturally, the measuring pockets should then be made half the size of the skip, and filling takes place much quicker than with only one measuring pocket.

Another embodiment of the locking means for the door 12 is shown in FIG. 6. The lower portion of the lifting rod 24 is designed as a bar 37 provided with a slot 38 including an axial vertical portion and connected to the lower end of this a horizontal portion extending from the vertical portion towards the edge of the bar 37 remote from the door 12. The pin 30 engages in the slot 38. The edge of the bar 37 remote from the door 12 is positioned adjacent a vertical support beam 39 secured to the pocket 11.

When the door is open and the lifting bar 24 is lifted the pin 30 is positioned in the lower horizontal portion of the slot 38. As the door is being closed the pin 30 will perform an arc-shaped movement and slide in the horizontal portion of the slot 38. When the door 12 has arrived in the closed position the lifting rod 24 and the bar 37 will move further downwards and the pin 30 will be transferred to the axial portion of the slot 38. In this position the door 12 cannot be opened because the pin 30 cannot perform its arc-shaped movement since the support beam 39 does not permit the bar 37 to be moved horizontally away from the door 12. The door 12 is therefore locked and this condition remains until the lifting bar 24 is lifted so that the pin 30 is positioned in the horizontal portion of the slot 38.

FIG. 6 also shows a horizontal beam 40 secured to the lower end of the support beam 39 and extending in under the bar 37. Between the lower end of the bar 37 and the beam 40 is a horizontal plate 41 which is secured to the door 12. A pin 42 extends downwardly from the bar 37 and when the door 12 is locked, i.e. when the bar 37 is in its lower position, the pin 42 extends through openings in the plate 41 and the beam 40 and locks the door further. When the bar 37 is lifted and the door 12 is to be opened the pin 42 will leave the openings in the beam 40 and the plate 41 before the bar 37 starts lifting the door 12. In order to make locking possible in spite of slight differences in the relative positions of the parts the pin 42 can be made conical or wedged-shaped. The desired locking effect is achieved even if the beam 40 is omitted since the plate 41 and the pin 42 urge the bar 37 towards the support beam 39 if the door 12 is pressed in the direction of opening.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 the locking of door 12 is achieved partly through the cooperation between the pin 30 and the slot 38 and the cooperation between the bar 37 and the support beam 39 and partly through the cooperation between the pin 42 and the openings in the plate 41 and the beam 40. However, each of these locking devices can be used alone or the last of them can be combined with the locking. device according to FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 shows a further embodiment of the locking device for the door 12. The lower portion of the lifting rod 24 is designed as a bar 43 provided with a slot 44 extending upwardly and inwardly towards the door 12. The pin 30 engages in the slot 44. The bar 43 is provided with a projecting lug 45 on the edge remote from the door 12. The lug 45 has an inclined upper edge which preferably has the same direction as the axis of the slot 44. The upper edge of the lug 45 cooperates with a plate 46 which is parallel with the upper edge of the lug and is secured to the lower end of a vertical support beam 47 secured to the pocket 11 adjacent the bar 43.

When the door is in its closed position the various parts are positioned as in FIG. 7. The door is locked because opening of the door would impart an arc-shaped movement to the pin 30 and this movement would be prevented by engagement between the lug 45 and the plate 46. When the door is to be opened the lifting rod 24 and the bar 43 are lifted and the pin 30 is transferred to the other end of the slot 44. This moves the bar 43 towards the door 12 and the lug 45 is moved out of engagement with the plate 46 so that the lifting rod 24 and the bar 43 can be lifted further and open the door 12.

The present invention is naturally not restricted to the described embodiment but can be varied arbitrarily within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A skip for use in mine hoist installations, comprising a frame; an open-top pocket secured in said frame, said pocket having a door opening in the bottom thereof; a chute positioned at the bottom of the pocket to lead away material to a position below and to one side of the pocket when said pocket is emptied, said chute having a bottom having lower end portion which has an upper concave surface, two doors positioned in the door opening of said pocket and pivotally mounted on said pocket for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis at the top of said door for facilitating emptying of said pocket when open, the bottom edges of the doors constructed so as to meet in a line on the vertical center line of the pocket, said door having substantially linear edges abutting said pocket at the corresponding edges of said door opening when said door is closed; door operating means comprising a vertically disposed lifting rod on one side of each door and coupled at one end thereof directly to the corresponding said door, lifting means mounted on said frame and coupled directly to the other end of each of said lifting rod for rotating said door about said axis, said lifting means of said door operating means comprises a fluidactuated piston-cylinder secured to the upper end of the frame, locking means for locking the doors in closed position, said locking means comprises a bar which constitutes the lower portion of said lifting rod, said bar having a slot formed theren, and a pin aflixed to said door and engaged in said slot.

2. A skip as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plate movably mounted on the frame and arranged to depend from the frame above the open upper portion of the pocket to guide material loaded into the pocket.

3. A skip as claimed in claim 1, further comprising Wearing plates hanging on the inside walls of said pocket and internally lining said inside walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 613,906 11/1898 Mack 193--3 1,232,119 7/1817 Summers 222556 XR 1,791,882 2/1931 Bennett 214740 1,798,711 3/1931 States 1934 XR 2,217,283 10/1940 Lorrin 294--69 2,638,254 5/ 1953 Heltzel 222556 XR 2,821,433 1/1958 Hamlet 2987 2,888,882 6/1959 Dorey -250 2,888,884 6/1959 Fritz 105-250 FOREIGN PATENTS 427,030 4/ 1935 Great Britain.

852,476 10/1960 Great Britain. 1,078,942 3/ 1960 Germany, 1,103,236 3/1961 Germany.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner R. B. JOHNSON, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 294-71 

